Ruth Dahlquist-Willard is the Interim Director of UC SAREP. Ruth has served as a UC Small Farms and Specialty Crop Advisor in the Fresno area for nine years. Her extension program has supported small-scale, diversified, and socially disadvantaged farmers through individual extension support, bilingual outreach and training in Hmong, Lao, Spanish, and Punjabi, research on small-acreage specialty crops, and policy engagement. Extension efforts include production issues for specialty crops such as pest and nutrient management, access to markets and financial resources, and regulatory compliance. Ruth holds a Ph.D. in Entomology from the University of Idaho and the Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza (CATIE). Her collaborative policy efforts have resulted in several changes to regulatory and incentives programs, including revised reporting requirements for the Irrigated Lands Regulatory Program for small-scale and diversified farms and improving access for limited-resource farmers to CDFA’s Climate Smart Agriculture programs. She has served as a co-chair of the UCANR Small Farms Workgroup and is currently the co-leader of the Diversified Farming and Food Systems Program Team.